Lumber-kiln



detail views.

EPHRAIM MYERS, oF SUSPENSION, ALABAMA.

`LUn/IBER-KILN.v

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,667, dated March 25, Y1884..

Application filed February 15, 1883. (No model.)

ing-rooms is a partition, P, which forms one end wall of each room, and is divided at its base, so as to form a flue, O, to each lower side of which is hinged a register or valve, R,

To @ZZ whom t may' concern:

Be it` known that I, EPHRAIM vMYERS, a citizen of theA United States, residing at Suspension, in the county of Bullock and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lumber-Kilns; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apuse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this Specification.

Figurel of the drawings is a vertical sectional view. Fig. 2 is a detail view, showing the crossing lumber. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are ing it from. one room to the other, or admitting it int/oboth rooms at the same time, or passing it up through the flue O, as` may be desired'. To the top of the partition P a register or valve, R, to be connected with the ventilator when swung either to the right or the left.

Fig. valves, room and versa, so that men can be working in one room while lumber is being dryed in the other-z2 e., taking out dried lumber and replacing it with green-and the heating apparatus need never each drying-room hasY a separate heating-room and heating apparatus.

rIhe use 'of the iiue Ois to admit air from the heating-room directly to the upper sections of the pile, where it does not dry as rapidly as in the lower partof the pile, by reason of the air becoming overcharged with moisture before reaching the upper part.

The ventilator is constructed as follows: A suitable aperture is provided in the roof, over which a superior covering or roof is erected.- A valve, c, is placed between the main and superior roof, and ed by the wind, and to operate as a damper to prevent it from the aperture. It will be obvious that the wind passing up over the sides ofthe roof will take an upward direction, and would pour or fall over into the aperture 5 whereby the air is admitted into one This invention has relation to lumber-kilns for drying lumber; and it consists in the construction andnovel arrangement of devices, as will behereinafter fully described, and par-V ticularly pointed out in the claims appended.

'Referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, A A designate the outer upright end walls of the kiln; B, the bottom of the same; F F, the iioors of the drying-rooms and the ceiling or upper part ofthe heating-room; P, the partition between the drying-rooms; F, the roof, and D D the drying-rooms.

In Fig. 1, I-I designates the heating-room containing the steam-pipes. The heatingroom is placed beneath the drying-rooms, having its ceiling somewhat corresponding with the inclination of the roof, and having the highest point of its ceiling at the throat or opening T,and inclining upward from both cold-air inlets). lts shape is cuniform, or that of a very obtusewedgeA inverted. i' r designate cold-air inlets or registers at opposite sldes of the heatingfroom. T is the throat or so hinged as to be deliect- 85 passing downward through but I'take advantage ofpassage through which the heated air enters the drying-rooms, and Vthe ventilatorthrough whichit passes out of the kiln. By this ar rangement cold airmore readily finds its way into the heating-room, and after being heated it rushes to the highest point upward into the drying-rooms. The steanrpipes are .a main pipe having smaller ones connected `with and diverging from each side thereof. The main pipe maybe extended, and other` pairs of rooms added, if desired. Between the dryfor the purpose of controlling the air by changf/ is hinged in such aV position as 6 shows the various positions of the shut out from the other, and vice be idle, as is necessary where 1V the inclination of the roof and rising motion of the wind by poising or pivoting the damper@ in such a way as that the wind willstrike the upper4 part of it and tilt `it over against the opposite side of the superior roof, which will swing the lower part of the damper till itcomes in contact with the main roof, and` thus close the Windward side of the aperture or liuc and open the leeward side, thereby putting the currentof the of the damper and allowing it to pass out freely and unobstructed by the wind-currents hot air under the leer roo Y outer cold air from the hot on the physical law boards L transversely of the room,

The next layer and Continuing the work by .the lumber pile,

1""7" are valves hinged to the roof at or nearv the apertiire auxiliary to the valve R', whereby the ventilator is rendered adjustable.

x" m2 x3 x are partition guide patterns or molds or matrices, and are placed in position, as the lumber is piled, to form cavities in the lumber-pile, and also to divide the air within. These pattern-guides are composed of angular boards and remain in place while the lumber is being dried. They may vary in shape, being more or less acute or oblique in outline, as may be required to produce diverse cavities, some kinds of lumber requiring larger and deeper guide-patterns, being movable, are used also in various lengths of lumber.

As may readilybe seen, a lumber pile thus constructed contains all the flues for the circulation of air through it, within its own limits, and may be`built in the open air and enveloped with the flexible covering C, which would close the cavities 2 4 6 instead of the walls. Then by admitting hot air under the covering at T it would circulate through the pile, provided, of course, that an outlet be allowed at 7. yThe Vangular cavites 2 4 6 are but continuations of the spaces or flues between the layers of lumber, and might be dicavities in the pile, in order to dry and seal vided accordingly by placing boards vertically son well.

For the purpose of more effectually excluding the outer cold air from the pile, as well as to confine the hot air within it, whereby the draft or circulation of hot air through it is greatly increased, and also for the purpose of saturating the lumber with steam, which is an efficient agent in the process of seasoning, and which is more thoroughly accomplished by conning the steam closely to and within the pile, I provide a covering, C, Fig. 4, for made of flexible material, such as heavy ducking or tarpaulin. This may be used over the top of the pile and ends of the lumber in the kiln, or to cover the whole pile, if constructed in the open air. I deem a flexible covering fcr a lumber pile a novel but important factor in the process of seasoning lumber.

The manner of piling the lumber is based that hot air rises, and is Beginning at the point a and laying the lumber or and on beams provided for the purpose, first having placed a guide-pattern, I, near each end of the lumber and resting against the wall, the rst layer is laid until the throat T is reached. the cross-strips S, which are placed transversely of the lumber and between the layers, are inclined by following the edges of the guide patterns toward the wall. placing the lumber against the guide-patterns and the cross-strips against the sides thereof, the pile is obliquely therefore as follows: of the drying-room,

raised till a point-such as b-on the wall is -the space 3 above.

reached, against which the last layer is closely placed, to prevent the air from rising up into This is designated the first section of the pile. From this point the second section is similarly laid and inclined in the opposite direction until a point-such as c-on the opposite w all is reached, and thus on, inclining the sections from right to left and from left to right till the pile is completed', placing the guide-patterns as the work goes on. The inclination or Obliquity of the sections maybe increased or diminished by using different guide parts; hence the points a b c d, 85e., are not stationary, but occur, according tothe guide-patterns used, wherever the lumber being piled meets the wall. The

to connect with each layer. (See Fig. 7 The air, as shown by the arrows, after it enters the inlets r o, being heated, is accelerated into the opening or throat T, and passes throughthe interspaces of the rst section of the pile into the lower part of the cavity or flue 2, whence it rises and passes into and through the interspaces of the second section into the lower part of the cavity or flue 3, thence likewise into 4, thence into. 5, finally passing out through the ventilator V. This peculiar manner of piling lumber, and the shape of the cavities or fines produced thereby, is most Afavorable to the rapid and even circulation of hot air through the pile, because the layers of lumber overlapping each other, the interspaces produced in the upper part of the cavities are presented directly above the corresponding ones in the lower part thereof, and the least possible resistance to its entrance into the interspaces is met and no obstacle is found in its normal ascent save only the lumber itself, the interspaces being presented nearly vertical to the planes of the upwardcurving air-currents. In other words, the lower half of each cavity, where the air emerges from the interspaces, being narrow at its base and widening upward, admits the air freely into the cavity, while the upper half of each, where it enters the interspaces, is broad at its base (which is the middle of the cavity) and narrowing upward. There is room above for only enough air to fill the upper interspaces. The remainder is held down, as it were, and turned into the lower ones, and the curvatures of the currents, as they emerge from the interspaces below, are maintained until they `enter the corresponding ones of the upper half of the cavities. The shape of these iiues precludes the possibility of any counter-currents of air. The effect of' this arrangement of lumber, interspaces, and walls with respect to each other is to give the aircurrents in the cavities an upward curvilinear direction, which, in connection with their passage through the interspaces, form sinuous air-currents throughout the pile.

The advantages are, first, cheapness and simplicityl of construction; second, economy in heating apparatus, by turning the heated air into either room, and emptying one room and relling it .while lumber is being dried in the other; third, strong draft-. e., power IOO IIO

to draw, as the draft of a stove or chimney; are located near each end of the pile, the verfourth, complete, rapid, and even circulatical edges of the formers abutting against the 3o tion of air through every part of the lumber walls of the kiln, thereby forming cavities or pile, thus drying it evenly and uniformly; lues between the lumber pile and the walls of 5 iifth, complete control of the air by simple the kiln, and preventing the outer air from `means; sixth, facility of increase of capacity entering the pile inside of the cross-strips and by the addition of more pairs of rooms and formers, for the purpose of circulating` hot air 55 f the extension of the main heating-pipe.` through the pile, substantiallyr as specified.

I am aware that it is common to pile luml 2. The combination, with the chambersDD,

\ io ber between cross-strips between the layers, having theinclined iioors FFand .rooms FF, and I do not intend to claim this; but my inand the vertical central partition, P, havingthe vention consists in thus piling itand overlapswinging valveRatits lowerend and theswing- 4o ping the layers, (so as to present the intery ing valve R at its upper end, of the swinging spaces, as nearly as possible, in the normal valvesrr, hinged to the baseof the ventilator 15 path of the air-currents, which can be best V, the iiue o below the partitionP and above done by confining all the air-flues within the the iioors F F, provided at its lower end with pile of lumber,) in connection with devices for i swinging valves adapted to engage the inner 45 dividing the outer air from the air within. ledges ofthe inclined floors F F, and the heat- Having thus described my invention, what I ing-chamber below, having cold-air inlets prozo claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, vided with valves r r, .substantially as speciisiied.

l. In the construction of a lumber pile for In testimony whereof `I affix my signature in 5o seasoning and drying the boards, the hereinL presence of two witnesses described process oi' pilingit upon cross-strips 25 the ends of which engage with angular pattern EPHRAIM My ERS guides or formers, the inclined edges ofthe Witnesses: y i'ormers coming in contact with the lumber, B. B. BEALL,

and their sides with the cross-strips, which A. B, FONTAINE. 

